


The Long Con

by Metalbendersofficial



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Con artist Asami, F/F, I so deeply love my con woman asami I hope y'all do too, Korra is a "Cop", Lin is just keeping an eye on her, Slow Burn, please assume most characters will be here, this is somewhat following the general storyline but I'm trying something.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25079785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metalbendersofficial/pseuds/Metalbendersofficial
Summary: Small time crime was a way of life for Asami, that doesn't change when the Avatar is on her trail after a break in. No one in Republic City knows how to play people better than she does, but when she falls in with Korra will she have a change of heart?
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	1. The Night Shift

**Author's Note:**

> Feels like it's been ages since I've written but I truly do love the legend of Korra and I want to share stuff with y'all again. Also, shout out to my good boi Reyes for being my beta reader.

The night patrol in Republic City had become more boring by the day. Maybe that's why the Chief had put Korra on this late. No trouble to get into, hardly any to find. Korra often joked with herself that it was so dead because even criminals have a bedtime.

Korra was thankful for what the Chief had done for her. Between this and pro-bending, she had her own apartment in no time. No more living on Air Temple Island, though she was always grateful for the home that Tenzin and the acolytes had provided for her. 

She had begun to ponder on tomorrow's errands and the groceries she needed, thinking that she may treat herself to a new book. 

The car's radio shakes her out of her thoughts, the officer on the other end requesting for any car near Juns Fine Jewelry to respond. Korra picks up the radio to tell dispatch she was on her way. The officer on the other end tells her a silent alarm had been tripped and that this was a low level security threat, no jewelry was in the store at this time. 

Juns was only a few blocks away, if there was someone in there, Korra might just be able to catch them.

-

The car was coming to a stop right across the street from the small store, which was dimly lit by a few street lights. There were no obvious signs of a break in. The only sign that spoke of foul play was the front door, just slightly open. 

Korra enters the small store, prepared to fight if needed, but there would be no need for that tonight. After one sweep of the store front, it was completely empty. No broken windows, no forced entry. There wasn’t even any jewelry in the cases. Why anyone would want to break into this store was a mystery to her. 

The Back room told her a completely different story.

The room was littered with papers. Drawers on the desk open and askew, as if someone was frantically searching for something. The thing that sticks out most to Korra though, is the smashed picture frame, a family portrait from long ago. 

The mother's face was ripped out of the picture, torn raggedly, as if by hand. The father had his mouth etched out, feigning permanent silence. The only person carefully, almost lovingly, untouched was the small boy, who Korra assumed was their son. 

_ ‘There’s something deeper to this,’  _ she thought,  _ ‘Something that I should probably tell the chief about.’  _

There’s an urgency in her pace, she had to radio the station  _ now _ . 

The air outside is supernaturally still, as if the universe was holding its breath in anticipation. The walk to the car wasn’t terribly far, but it felt like it had taken ages to get there. She’s just reaching for the radio when she hears a voice break the night's silence.

“Excuse me, officer?” She seems breathless and there’s an urgency in her voice. 

Korra inwardly curses, but composes herself, puts on a fake smile to greet this needy citizen.

She turns to see a woman, taller than her, but not by much. Korra is almost thrown off her game by how gorgeous this woman is, bright green eyes sparkling under the street lights. She’s very obviously trying to catch her breath, but still gives Korra a toothy, crooked smile. 

“Officer, you haven’t seen a dog come this way have you? He’s a little white puppy and he got out and-” She talks fast, giving Korra little to no time to process what she’s saying. 

Korra extends her arm, gently taking the woman by the shoulder, trying to soothe her while also getting her to stop talking.

“Easy, ma’am. What’s your name?” Her voice is soft, trying to sympathise with this woman. There’s a flash of something in the other woman's eyes, like a lightning fast calculation worked its way through her brain. 

“Asami.” 

Korra had never heard someone sound almost uncomfortable with their own name, but she brushed it off. The sooner she got this woman out of the way the better. 

“Alright, Asami.” Her name feels light on the Avatars tongue, like it belongs there. “Let's’ find your puppy.” She tries to give the taller woman a reassuring smile, softly squeezing her shoulder. 

After 20 minutes of calling for this puppy that Korra is fairly certain is gone, Asami makes the executive decision, telling the young officer that their efforts were pointless. There’s sadness in her voice, and for the first time that night, Korra truly feels bad for the other woman. The way that Asamis’ shoulders sag, her head hanging slightly. If Naga were missing, Korra would be beside herself. 

“Look, Asami, it’s very late and I can’t have you walking home by yourself. Let me drive you home.” The offer is open, Korra is indifferent to any answer she gets, but it’s the least she can do. She  _ needs  _ to get in touch with the station.

Asami agrees, commenting on how it was very kind of her to offer and how the Republic City officers just get sweeter every day. There feels like there’s a particular venom behind the last comment, but Korra ignores it. Not everyone liked the police, and she respected that. If she was honest, she didn’t particularly want to be a police officer, but it was money and also the only way Chief Beifong would let her roam the city. 

The car's engine hums to life, it’s given the chance to warm up before they take off. 

“Where am I taking you?” Korras’ question hangs in the air, the other woman staring into the dashboard, almost like she was looking past it somehow. 

“Sorry, I know you asked a question.” She seems very matter-of-fact, “But one of your cylinders isn’t firing like it’s supposed to. But anyways, we’re going to Swift Sato’s Auto Shop.” 

Korra shakes her head, she knows where that is, yes, but why were they going  _ there  _ so late at night. 

_ ‘Whatever,’  _ she decides, ‘ _ at least it’ll get her somewhere.’ _

The car pulls away from the curb, flashing Juns Jewelry into her line of sight and suddenly Korra remembers the night's mission.

She picks up the radio, begging the woman to excuse her for a moment.

“This is Officer Korra responding from Juns Jewelry, I need officers here to contain a crime scene. Please arrive as soon as possible.” She makes the mental note to return before the other officers do, hearing confirmation that officers would be en route soon. 

Asami is shifting in her seat, eagerly looking at all the buttons and switches in the car. There’s a childlike excitement in her voice, asking what everything does. Korra indulges her, telling her this switch turns on the lights, this button starts the siren. 

It takes ten minutes to drive to the auto shop, which means there was about eight minutes of Korra trying to sound like she knew everything about her car when it was very obvious that she didn’t. 

  
  


Sato’s Auto Shop is a stark contrast to the rest of the buildings on the street, a bright white and warm maroon against the dingey grey of surrounding businesses. After almost hitting the curb pulling up, Korra finally asks the question on her mind.

“Why did I take you here? This is a business.” She didn’t mean to sound like she did, like she was silently judging, although what she was judging she couldn’t say. She watched a small smile play on Asamis’ face, watched her push a bit of hair behind her ear. 

“Oh, this is my shop.” The confusion on the young avatars face must have been evident, “I also live here. Well, not in the shop, I live above it, I don’t sleep in the cars or anything.” 

Korra turns red, suddenly very self aware of the fact that she may have just offended the other woman by asking anything at all. Asami thought it best to ignore the other woman's embarrassment, silently opening her door and making her way to the drivers side door. 

“Thank you for the ride, officer. I really appreciate it.” She was completely genuine, glad to have had a bit of company, if just for a short time. She saw the other woman digging around in the glove compartment, being told to stay there for just a second as Korra hastily scribbled a phone number on a piece of paper. 

“Call me if you see anything suspicious, or if anything happens.” She folds the paper in half, sticking it out the window for Asami to grab. 

Asami takes the note and unfolds it with her fingers, just peeking inside.

“And if I don’t see anything, can I still call you?” She’s smirking, making Korras’ heart skip. That was….unexpected. It wasn’t entirely unwelcome, if she was honest with herself. There are noises of exasperation from the officer as Asami laughs. 

She’s starting to head inside when Korra finally gets out; “I wouldn’t mind that.” 

Korra waits outside for a few minutes before driving off, content to tell herself she was waiting for a call when in reality she was trying to understand what just happened. Who  _ was  _ that girl? Well, Korra knew who she was but… but there was something about her. Something inside of her hoped that she would be getting a call tomorrow.

Sadly, that hopeful thought was trampled by the sudden realization that she needed to be back at the jewelry store before the other officers or Beifong would have her head delivered straight to Tenzin.

_ ‘Asami Sato.’  _ She was so much smoother in her own head.  _ ‘Avatar Korra. Pleased to meet you.”  _

-

The rest of the night blurs by, the questions from other officers, the drive home. It's all running together like paint in her head. 

All she knows is that she got home sometime around 6 am. 

Korra enters her home, already shrugging off excess clothing as she passes the threshold of her apartment. She kicks them to the side, deciding that if she didn't lay down right now she would never get to sleep.

There wasn't a more welcome sight that night than the small, messy couch with a single blanket. 

She tosses herself onto the sofa, content to take out her ponytail and completely relax. The knots that would be left in her hair would just be future Korra’s problem. 

She drifts into a somewhat restless sleep, waking every few minutes with uneasy feelings, these unusual pangs of dread. She ignores them, thinking that if she just covers her head with the pillow those feelings would absolve themselves. 

She's wrong, of course, but she manages to fall back into fitful slumber.


	2. Let's Make A Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this.

The radio in Asami’s small “apartment” was the only noise that carried through the small space, the smooth jazz-like tones fading away the only indicator that the news was about to be reported. 

Asami’s legs dangle over the wooden arm of the love seat, her hands resting on her stomach, her oil stained work coat serving as her pillow. She had been awake for about twenty minutes, already dreading the day ahead. 

Today was visitation day, one of the only days of the month that she knew her brain would be worked to its limit. 

She never minded visiting her father in prison. On the contrary, she actually enjoyed it. She admired her fathers ingenuity and cunning. One of his most brilliant plans to date, in her opinion, was pretending to go deaf in jail. 

Sure, it was a bit of work for both of them to learn sign language, but Hiroshi convinced her that it would be beneficial for them both. 

Asami had brought in a book on sign language, taking advantage of the warden's soft heart for a daughter just wanting to talk to her dad. Little did the warden know, Asami would take that book home months later, each of the pages had diagrams and notes from Hiroshi. Everything from how to run a legitimate business and filing for business loans to building a more efficient combustion engine. 

She exhales heavily, a noise somewhere between a groan and a sigh escaping from her. She wonders if she could invent something to stop mornings from existing completely, just jump straight into the afternoon. 

Asami muses on this, standing up and stretching. She grabs her stained jacket, wishing she had something more presentable to wear to visit her dad. Maybe she could just wear the white tank top she had on, looking down and remembering  _ ‘oh this is stained with oil, too’ _ . 

She slides her work coat back on, stopping for a second to realize that it smelled different. Well, it smelled like the usual, sweat and transmission fluid, but there was something else cutting through. It was almost like a soft vanilla mixed with the distinct smell of old leather.

Asami is thrown back to last night. She knew exactly what that smell was, or rather,  _ who _ it was. 

_ “This is Officer Korra responding from Juns Jewelry.”  _

She leans against her small desk, almost slipping forward on the scattered papers. How had she already forgotten that she was a good three minutes from being arrested last night? 

Asami hangs her head, smiling at unfiled paperwork.  _ ‘At least she was good looking.’  _ She thinks. 

She sees the scrap of paper with Korras phone number, taking it in her hand and thinking for a moment before she crumples the paper into a ball, dropping it on the floor. 

_ ‘Don’t think about her, you’ll only make it harder on yourself.’  _

-

Visiting was rather mundane this month, all Hiroshi had to talk about was the Equalists and how it was a noble cause. The only real question he asked was about the self defense weapons Asami was getting ready to sell. She assured him that the buyer was almost legitimate, the least crooked gang member she’d met in months. Other than that she didn’t really care what the gloves were for or who she was selling them to. Money is money. 

Before she leaves, she tells Hiroshi about how the night before she had “lost Mochi” and run into the dumbest cop she’d ever seen, which is really saying something. She didn’t really watch her mouth, or in this case hands, around any of the officers. None of them had ever bothered to learn to sign to communicate with Hiroshi. 

She tells him of the crime she had committed at Juns, to scare the owners, remind them that the Satos are still out there and ready to take what belongs to them. Hiroshi smiles proudly, shaking his head approvingly. 

Asami finishes her story with how she tricked a young police officer into helping her search for her dog Mochi right after she had very obviously been running from behind the business, even getting a ride home from her. She did admit to her father that she thought Korra was gorgeous, describing her dark skin and soft, blue eyes, the way she styled her hair. 

Hiroshi seems puzzled at this, not because his daughter seemingly had a crush, but because he thinks he  _ knows _ who that is.

He asks Asami to describe the girl a little more, getting the answer of a sharp jaw and crooked smile, southern water tribe clothes. 

He buries his face in his hands because his daughter is brilliant, yes, but she had missed something so glaringly obvious that it could have ruined her. Had she not been reading the papers, listening to the news? Heard anything _at all_ about pro-bending? 

He tries his best to explain to Asami that that girl was, in fact, the Avatar. 

And for the first time in five years, Asami forgets herself.

“You’re fucking kidding.”

-

Asamis’ walk home had her in a haze, an unfamiliar feeling was welling inside her. The empty spaces in her brain, that were usually filled to capacity, were buzzing with a new type of emotion that she couldn’t describe. 

The closest she had come to naming what she felt was panic. 

She arrived at her shop faster than she thought, almost like she was running at the speed of her thoughts. She knew she wasn’t, she’d just never been that lost in her thoughts before. Asami could never get in her own head like that, there was too much riding on her keeping her cool. 

She felt for the garage key in her pocket, eager to get her mind off of her biggest slip up in about eight years.The shop wouldn’t be open for long today, just long enough for her to make todays deal, then she was going to turn in for the night and really beat herself up about almost getting caught committing a crime by the  A vatar, of all people.

-

Reorganizing her tools was getting less fun by the hour, the shop floor had been swept over and over. Asami had taken to drawing in her sketchbook while she waited for her buyer to show up. 

There were sketches for everything in that book; electric window openers, high-speed rail systems, the only existing drawing of the Future Industries logo. 

She was working on a sketch of a new sports car, one she had designed herself, when a large truck pulled to a hard stop in front of her shop. Two men got out, one walking to open the back of the truck, the other making his way inside. She was intrigued to see a few motorcycles inside.

Asami stood up and closed her sketchbook, setting it on top of a nearby toolbox. She closes her eyes for a second and takes a breath, to remind herself that it was show time. 

“Hey there, you Sifu?” The man inquires. Asami makes a small noise of confirmation, gesturing to follow her. She leads them to the back corner of her shop, letting them look inside the four neatly stacked large wooden crates, happy to see the satisfied looks they exchange. 

“Now that you know I did the work, lets talk payment. It’s 10,000 yuans.” Her tone is even, factual. There’s a certain satisfaction she gets from seeing the look of disbelief from one of the men. He’s about to make an argument, she can just feel it. 

“You can’t charge us that much! Haku you-” 

He’s interrupted by the other man, Haku, putting his hand up, a gesture that tells him to shut his mouth.

“She’s done good work, Leggy. No reason to cheap out on quality handiwork.” He punctuates his sentence with a good-natured smile directed at Asami. 

Maybe she can capitalize on this mans good heart, squeeze them for what their worth. 

“If you’d let me, I’d like one of those motorcycles too.” She doesn’t really leave time for them to process the request, quickly adding; “In exchange, I’ll be more than happy to work on the rest for free, should they need a little help.” The free work was a sugar coated pill the men would need to swallow, if they wanted to leave with their gauntlets. 

Leggy looks to the other man, who seems to be the one in charge, waiting for a decision. 

Asami was practically screaming, but she gave the two an unwavering and sweet smile.

It was a risky offer. They could accept it and she’d be financially stable, finally have some mode of transportation. If they denied then she had wasted a lot of her own money on a failed investment. 

The silence is heavy, it almost makes her feel like she’s going to buckle under the pressure. 

Usually she was more calm than this, but her other thoughts are threatening her professionalism. 

Haku steps forward, hand outstretched, large grin on his face. Asami takes his hand in hers firmly and shakes it once. “You’ve got a deal, Sifu. Go pick one, we’ll handle these.” 

There’s little hesitation as she climbs into the back of the truck, hearing the two bringing down the large steel ramp to load their cargo. She laughs to herself, she was so eager to get her new bike she just didn’t want to wait for the ramp. 

She picks the first one she sees, they’re all exactly the same anyways.

Asami mounts it, putting the kickstand up and pushing it out of the truck, past the two men loading their crates. 

Leggy finishes closing up the truck as his colleague finishes the meeting. The only thing he tells her is that the money is on her table, and that he hopes to see her again soon, giving her a knowing wink.

She claps him on the shoulder, assuring him that they’d meet again soon, when in reality she’s thrilled to see him take off with his new precious cargo. 

Once they’ve left, she counts her money, noticing a piece of paper tucked into one of the bands holding them together. She unfolds it, noticing that the front is a leaflet for the Equalist movement, on the bottom reads:  _ “5th and Empire 9 pm Friday”  _

She tosses the paper in her sketchbook. That was in about three days and she had no plans, maybe she’d see what all the fuss was about.

-

After tinkering with her new toy for about an hour, Asami decides it’s time to close shop. It wasn’t a wholly unproductive day, she’d actually been beaming since the two left. She’d conned them for far more than they were worth, she just knew they were going to get their asses chewed by whoever the boss was, but she didn’t care. She got what she wanted,  _ more  _ than she wanted. She was content.

She’s closing the garage doors behind her when she hears someone call out to her.

“Hey, Asami!” The familiar voice sends a shiver down her spine.  _ Oh spirits, no. _

She turns to her left to see Korra half-jogging towards her, blushing at the memory of this morning, of remembering what she smelled like. Asami sags her shoulders for a second, steeling herself. How had she already forgotten that she committed a break-in, too? 

Part of her wants to sprint in the other direction, knowing that she’s been caught, but the other part tells her to stay, to listen.

“Hey, Officer. What brings you to my part of town?” The genuine curiosity makes it more sincere.

Korra gives her a sheepish grin,and it makes her heart race. 

The  a A vatar rubs the back of her neck awkwardly, stumbling over her words; “I just- last night I...I didn’t mean to offend you and I just…” Her sentence trails off in a way that Asami could respond, if she wants, but she doesn’t. 

“I’m making dinner for my friends tonight, and I was wondering if you’d like to join us. Consider it an apology, since I suck at those.” 

Asami is taken aback by this, not because she’s been invited to dinner with the  A vatar, but because Korra thinks she offended her. She smiles to herself, trying to come up with the reason that the universe just wouldn’t let her forget this girl.

She pushes that to the side, trying to come up with a way to let Korra down gently.

“Look, you’re really sweet but…” She stops herself, trying to remember the last real meal she had. Well, a meal that wasn’t a cup of noodles. If Korra was going to give her a free meal, she just couldn’t say no. That and she could see the disappointment in the other girls eyes. 

“Actually, you know what, sure. Let me lock up and we can go.”

Asami hears Korra make a small noise of victory as she puts the padlock on the large door. She asks if Korra walked all the way there, she gets a nod and the explanation that the walk was good exercise. 

She shakes her head and smiles, putting her hands in the pockets of her coat, letting Korra lead the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooh Asami said the F word.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me your thoughts!


End file.
